Thesaurus of Claim Construction

Claim construction is a major phase of a patent litigation where the meaning and scope of the claims themselves - the invention - is determined by the court. The outcome of this definition phase is crucial to the respective infringement and invalidity positions of the parties. The Thesaurus of Claim Construction directs practitioners to cases-and in contrast to searches on more general electronic databases, only those cases-in which claim terms have previously been construed, and further to the sources of the evidence used by past courts to construe the terms in dispute. This two-volume Second Edition is updated to include over 3,500 additional entries, some of which focus on Biotechnology, Pharmacology, and Cleantech. Ordinary Skill is now included as a topic.

Table of Contents:
VOLUME ONE ; CHAPTER 1: HOW TO USE THIS BOOK ; CHAPTER 2: OUTLINE OF THE LAW OF CLAIM CONSTRUCTION ; CHAPTER 3: SIMPLE TERMS ; VOLUME TWO ; CHAPTER 4: OUTLINE OF THE LAW CONSTRUING MEANS ; PLUS FUNCTION ELEMENTS ; CHAPTER 5: MEANS PLUS FUNCTION TERMS ; CHAPTER 6: NO CONSTRUCTION NECESSARY ; CHAPTER 7: DESIGN PATENTS ; CHAPTER 8: ORDINARY SKILL ; APPENDICES ; A: INDEX OF KEYWORDS IN CONTEXT ; B: TABLE OF DICTIONARY REFERENCES ; C: TABLE OF CASES

About the Author :
Stuart B. Soffer is a non-residential fellow of the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society, and is the president of IPriori, Inc., a consultancy on intellectual-property issues regarding software and the Internet, including media download and digital rights. He is frequently retained as a technical expert analyzing infringement/validity in patent litigation and also consults on IP development and commercialization. Robert C. Kahrl is a practice leader of the Jones Day intellectual property practice. He specializes in litigation of cases involving issues of technological complexity. His recent work has been in the fields of semiconductors, electronic systems, and medical devices. Cases in which his appearances have been a matter of public record include the largest patent-related litigation ever conducted before the International Trade Commission involving 10 patents for various aspects of DRAM chips (In re Certain Dynamic Random Access Memories). He is the author of the treatise Patent Claim Construction (2001, supplemented annually).

Review :
"It provides a very useful set of alternative constructions of words and phrases with citations from US patent cases and brief commentary...This two volume set also has insightful sections on means plus function elements, design patents and how to determine what 'ordinary skill' really means in the context of the patent you're looking at. With an index that runs to over 200 pages, it's also easy to find everything." --Duncan Bucknell, Think IP Strategy "An indispensable reference book for anyone who litigates patent cases." --Mark A. Lemley, William H. Neukom Professor, Stanford Law School "Claim language and claim construction are probably the most frequently debated legal issues in patent prosecution and patent litigation respectively. This book offers an invaluable resource and desk reference for parties to those debates." --Dennis Crouch, Associate Professor of Law, University of Missouri School of Law, Author of Patently "The Thesaurus of Claim Construction by Stuart Soffer and Robert Kahrl gives all stakeholders-lawyers, judges, patent owners, accused infringers and the public-a powerful tool to quickly access accepted definitions and point the way to useful references. Those who use it will save time and increase the odds of success in a patent litigation." --James Pooley Deputy Director General for Innovation and Technology World Intellectual Property Organization "The Thesaurus of Claim Construction will be of great service for both the courts and patent practitioners in determining how courts have defined specific terms, predicting how they may define new terms, as well as to simplify the complex and evolving claim construction process." --David Stephenson, LoTempio Law Blog